Sunday, November 8, 2009

FIRST EVER WEDDING CAKE!

FLAVORS: Devil's Food Cake with Vanilla Icing

Apple Cinnamon Spice Cake with Buttercream Icing

Pumpkin Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

OCCASION: Wedding!

The bride, Christie, contacted me months ago to ask if I would make wedding cupcakes for her special day. She found me via Cake Wrecks! I happily agreed. I don't know why Christie and her now husband were willing to put so much trust in a seventeen year old girl, but I'm so glad they did!

The "cake" consisted of 192 cupcakes and an 8-inch anniversary tier. Each cupcake was made fresh and from scratch and topped with a candy leaf. Each leaf corresponded to a different flavor cake. I practiced out recipes for weeks to prepare--everyone in my school has now gotten overloaded with sugar treats for my experiments.

17 comments:

I am very impressed. It's all presented very nicely, very neat, with good color combinations. You rocked it.

The only TINY thing I could find that I might change (if I absolutely HAD to suggest any changes) is making the leaf decorations thinner. They looked great as far as being seasonally apropriate and good colors. You could try gum paste. Wilton makes a powdered mix that you simply add water to. I used regular icing colors to color it and made roses, etc. I find it rolls thinner than fondant and holds a shape a little more easily. That being said I am not a pro at all so it is just my two cents.

One thing I saw in Duff's book today was that they often make decorations a day or two in advance, and bake the cakes after that, to keep them as fresh as possible. So maybe that approach would have given you a break from a LONG day. You could also maybe mix your frostings the day before you bake, but you'd have to chill/ let come to room temp so I don't know if that would help you.

maybe a restaurant / caterer in your area would order you a box of these the next time you need to make a cake - from whatever wholesaler they get all their food from. Try a place that you know does brunch. A privately owned business might be more willing to help you than a "chain" restaurant.

instead of cracking all those eggs you just measure out a certain amount per each egg in the recipe

Oh Melia! Your wedding cake tower of cupcakes is a masterpiece! Each one of your cupcake flavor designs sound scrumptous, and the combination of specially selected frosting and candy decoration is fun-fun-fun! :)

I don't think you realize how good your cakes look. Maybe you spend so much time looking at them that you can't appreciate them. Maybe you have these amazing dreams in your head and your skills aren't quite what you need yet to realize them, so you think you're doing a rotten job. (I find this is true of a lot of people who are gifted in a field but are just starting to work on their talent. They see what's in their head, realize they can't do it yet, and so think what they can do is just for fun, when it's better by far than what most of us, who don't have the talent, can do.) Anyway, I found you through CakeWrecks, too, and I added you to my Google Reader so I can see why you put up a new cake picture. And while you aren't Ace of Cakes, it's clear to me that you have the potential to be that good, if you work at it. I already see your potential toward innovation and creativity. Someday, if it's what you want, you will be professional baker whose work is featured regularly in the Sunday Sweets.

And as for Wilton candy melts, they taste greasy to me. I always use white chocolate for molding. It's harder to work with, but the results are so much better.

Melia, you are amazing! Thank you so much for making our cake. Everyone loved it and I'm pretty sure we had more than enough for everyone there plus some! The leaf candies were great! Thank you for bringing my vision to life. :) I only wish I had actually gotten to meet you in person when you delivered them. :( We will have to meet someday. I wish you the best and will give you a reference when you need one!

Bio

I started baking cakes when I was 12 years old. At first, I would just play around with different shaped Wilton pans and experiment with making my own flavors. I've never had professional lessons, I just kind of taught myself things--I don't do things the typical way, but I'm proud of the methods I've invented. Every cake is a new learning experience for me.